I recently got a message in my guestbook that I thought warranted some discussion. It comes from “May”.

I am currently dealing with disappointing reality that a friend of mine has been copying my artwork. I appreciate your stance on the subject, and hope to find a way to make myself clear to others on what is acceptable and what is not, when it comes to enjoying my artwork.

Well, this is an important issue, and there are a few things to consider here.

First of all, when people start getting an interest in art, copying images is very common. It’s a step in one’s artistic development, and it helps to improve hand-eye coordination and visual acuity. That said, some people never grow out of that and don’t learn that copying artwork is only a step. Copying artwork is fine as something to use as a form of training, but it’s definitely not cool to show that copied artwork off as if it’s a finished piece, especially if they are trying to pass off that artwork as their own without giving credit to the original artist. I was just looking on deviantART a minute ago and saw a bunch of pencil drawings that were copied exactly from artwork that I had seen before. What is the point of that? Why would somebody want to show that off? You can copy a picture that someone else already drew… so what? Isn’t that effort better placed in drawing something that no one else has drawn before? Well, I think so!

There are other forms of copying that are also sticky subjects. There is swiping, where an artist will steal a pose or composition from another drawing and apply it exactly like it was but with different characters. This is generally a bad idea. There are also situations were someone will take another artist’s work and change it slightly so they can claim it as their own. This is also a not very good, and is a particularly scummy thing to do without giving credit. But it’s ok to take inspiration from other artists’ work, and it’s not cheating to use reference images as long as they’re only used for reference. Sometimes there is a fine line between being inspired and outright copying. An artist should have the better judgment to know if they are crossing that line.

The thing is that if someone copies a piece of art, it obviously means that they like it. That can include professional images as well as artwork done by people they know. So, you could look at it from a flattering perspective too. It means you have a fan. I can remember several occasions when I was in grade school where I would draw something really creative in class, only to have a significant portion of the other students doing the exactly the same thing once word got out. It’s pretty annoying, but it also means you’re doing something right. Ultimately, however, you have to be protective of your own work. When one person gets away with copying your work, then suddenly it’s ok for anybody to copy anyone else’s work. It sets a bad precedent and pretty much says that your artwork is a commodity without much value. Certainly I think that friends should understand that is not what you want.

Unfortunately, this is part of the world of being an artist. While everybody else might admire your talent, think all seem to think that being an artist is real easy and it’s all fun and games. They don’t really know what it takes. Often times it feels like we are part of a world that seeks only to take advantage of us and not give us our due. It’s a hard way to live, especially when you’re just starting out and have big goals. That’s why I have recently come to understand that, since this part of life can be so difficult, it’s best to try to keep the other side of life as simple and as positive as possible. The way we handle our relationships with friends and people we know is a big part of that.

I take this issue pretty seriously since I was once accused of copying and being unoriginal based on the content of my website. The guy was a rude, ignorant jackass who hated anime and thought that I copied and just drew the same things over and over again because I have an anime style, so obviously I didn’t think much of anything he had to say, but still. I don’t see where he could have gotten off with accusing me like that since I take a great deal of pride in being original. But that’s just another example of the nonsense artists have to deal with from people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

To specifically address May’s problem, I don’t think that your friend copying your work is a big deal as long as no one else sees it. Maybe it will help to inspire your friend to become a better artist, and that would be a very good thing. But when it really comes down to it, an artist shouldn’t have to rely on other people’s work or something to copy from or anything else but their wits and their hands to create something good. It’s got to come from within, and copying just isn’t going to make that happen.

I hope that helps.

Sayonara.

Despite my best efforts to stop it, I still get a lot of automated spam sent to me through my website. Spam for things like online gambling, pharmaceuticals, plane tickets, steroids and other anatomy enhancing items, and, of course, porn. Some of it is really obviously spam, with tons of links to other websites. Others are spam masquerading as actual feedback. It’ll say something like “Nice site“, but with contain links to other websites just like any other spam. I have to at least take a glance at everything so I can check to see which messages are spam and which are not. But recently I’ve gotten a few that are not really spam in the traditional sense, but aren’t really trying very hard to sell anything either! These are quite confusing, but funny. Here are two.

This one had a link to a discount airfare site, but I think their marketing approach leaves much to be desired.

I’ve just been sitting around waiting for something to happen. I haven’t gotten much done lately. More or less nothing noteworthy happening these days. Oh well. It’s not important. I haven’t been up to anything.

Wow! That really makes me want to buy some cheap plane tickets from you! Really!

And this one is just plain weird. The only link it contained was to Yahoo.com. It doesn’t seem like automated spam at all, but it couldn’t possibly have come from a real person!

Your site is very informative, interesting and a certain daily visit for critical weather information. Thank you.

Umm, you’re welcome, I think. I put a lot of work into my site so that a wide variety of people will find something useful here, but I had no idea that critical weather information was on the menu! What a pleasant surprise that I am able to offer something so specialized when I never had any intention of doing so. Well, with that in mind, this weekend’s forecast calls for the sky to turn black as giant drops of electrified blue goo fall from jagged clouds. Bring an umbrella.

Sayonara.

It’s 6/6/06! Devil Day! What a momentous occasion for evil.

I did a quick little digital painting to commemorate the day. Check it out here on my deviantART account.

This has been a great Devil Day. But the last Devil Day was in 1996, and I was in grade 10. Now THAT was hell!

Sayonara.

You know, it’s been just over two weeks since I posted that open challenge to the whoever it was that kept on harassing me with petty insults, including calling me a little girl and saying I was scared, to send me an e-mail through ninjatronsucks@hotmail.com, an address this person claimed to own themselves, but actually did not, prompting me to register it myself. The proposition seemed pretty fair and interesting for all parties involved so that we could get a dialog going and finally air all of our grievances in a productive manner. All I really asked for was this person to tell me who they were and why they hated me so much (two points they had completely failed to provide, along with what exactly they were trying to accomplish) , just so I would the benefit of actually putting a name to the idiocy. Otherwise the perpetrator in question was pretty much free to say whatever it was they felt like saying.

Now, maybe I’m biased but I look at this chance I’m giving and I see some pretty juicy stuff here! How many other webmasters would openly invite detractors to say whatever terrible things they wanted to say in such a blunt, unfiltered manner that went straight to the source? And not to mention make it as simple as possible to do so? One would think that someone who thinks I suck and likes to say that I am scared would be chomping at the bit to capitalize on such a direct line of attack presented to them!

And so, after two weeks, just how many e-mails were sent to ninjatronsucks@hotmail.com?

None. Not a single one.

Well, that’s not entirely true. There was one… from “Hotmail Staff“, telling me to “Experience the big difference with Windows Live Mail Beta” Now, I would never, ever, do such a terrible thing, but that doesn’t sound very insulting, so the point stands. Disappointing, but given the kind of people we’re dealing with here, not entirely surprising.

Well, who is scared now? I guess this is the part where I would make chicken noises in the general direction of anybody who doesn’t like what I do and only wants to tell me about it by flinging juvenile insults through a veil of anonymity. Well, far be it for me to be above doing that! So, then…

Bucka bucka bucka bucka!

Sayonara.

The other day I was in the local Toys R Us, checking things out as I usually do. There were these 3 guys there looking at the Transformers. I could tell that they were about sixteen years old because one of them mentioned that he was 6 when Beast Wars came out. These guys were really loud and obnoxious, as 16 year olds often tend to be when in a plural form. They were talking about how Transformers suck now, though it became woefully apparent that they haven’t had any exposure to Transformers at all in the past few years.

They were saying things like how Beast Wars was so much better than the new “car Transformers“, and calling the new series “the square ones” (!?). All of this despite two very glaringly obvious points. First, that the new series had beast characters, several of which were hanging on the pegs directly in front of them (neither of them being at all “square” in shape), and second, that the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary toys were just below were they were looking and they had no bloody idea.

I observed for awhile, morbidly intrigued by this train-wreck of a conversation, until one of them finally noticed that reissued versions of the Beast Wars toys they were talking about were right under their noses. Of course, this lead the conversation directly into how these figures were bigger and better when they were kids. For crying out loud. Once they figured out that these toys were released for the 10th Anniversary, they could not believe that it had been so long, and assumed that this had to mean the very original Transformers from back when they were first born. Right. The concept of time must be a very tricky thing for kids nowadays.

It took some composure on my part not to step in and set these guys straight, because it really seemed like they barely knew right from left at this point, but nothing would be gained from that. I was wearing my Decepticon hat at the time, and I’m positive that at least one of them noticed, but I shouldn’t be surprised that they didn’t ask me about anything. Let’s just not let the facts stand in the way of superior teenaged ignorance while hanging out at the mall, huh?

The really funny thing is that when I was 16 years old, the new Transformers were Beast Wars! People just like these clowns were saying that Beast Wars sucked and the old ones, the “car Transformers“, were so much better. Not me though! I was all over the new stuff, and I still am today.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Sayonara.